Of Fish and Dragons
by kittyjordz
Summary: Lucy finds a note from her mother written just before her death with details on finding Pisces' key, as well as a possible connection to the dragons vanishing. Can she and Natsu survive the search? What dangers lie in a 14 year old clue? rating for later
1. A Letter from Mom

(I reaaaaly should be working on my women of the otherworld fic, but as im still waiting to see where Kelley Armstrong goes with the new book in the coming months, I'm going to hold off. I've been getting back to anime and just figured now was a good time to write a bit more. Enjoy, read and review.)

The sun began to peek through the shutters of my window in the wee hours of the early morning. It should have been a time where I was still asleep, but I had bigger things to worry about then sleeping. It was rent day…and I was still short, and Hilda was unforgiving. Bad enough it had been 7 years and she'd been kind enough to keep my room as it was and only steal some of my clothing, but what could I do now?

I rose with a loud sigh, moving from my bed towards my desk and chair. Jobs had been not forthcoming since we'd come back from Tenrou island. Fairy tail had lost so much of the credit it had built up no one ever really bothered to send jobs to us anymore. I sighed again, looking at my collection of eclectic things. My novel that had a large 7 year gap in it, my belt with my keys of my celestial spirits, pictures of my team and I. collections of our past successful missions, all catalogued in my novel. To come to a head here, ending in me, being bankrupt, unable to pay my rent… what was I to do?

A soft snore roused me from my nostalgic thoughts. There was someone in my apartment! I grabbed the nearest weapon like thing I could find, a wooden box from my father, one of the many gifts he'd sent me during the time I was missing. It had contained some things of my mother's, Layla. A gemstone necklace, a photograph of our family, and a hand written letter from my mother. The box was sturdy cedar, and it was liable to give whomever was invading my home a good lump.

"I'm armed and dangerous! Show yourself, and we can end this peacefully!" I cried out, my heart pounding, making my voice quaver. The snorer grunted, and snorted, and then a form began to rise from my bed. With a scream, I ran at the shadowy form, blinded partly y the new morning light, swinging my box wildly.

"Owwww! LUCY!" a familiar voice wined. I opened my eyes, the crumbled bits of box in my hands. There, a small lump forming on his head was Natsu, hiding partially hidden in the folds of my large comforter, with me now straddled in his lap. I gave a low groan, lifting the crumbling bits of box from his head and putting it upon the empty side of my bed.

"What have I told you about sneaking into my house, Natsu!" I gave a low sigh, blowing a piece of my golden hair from my eye. Natsu just smirked, His eyes shifted from my form though, resting on the shattered box in my hand. My eyes were cast down, however, a blush creeping along my cheeks. I should have been furious he was sneaking into my room and sleeping in my bed, but I liked it, deep down. "What…what are you staring at?" I asked, a small frown on my lips.

"Look." He said, moving to grab the box. As I opened my mouth to protest, he broke the rest of the box apart, a slip of paper fluttering onto the bed. We both looked at one another, and moved to scoop up the paper. I was faster, so I began to read it aloud to him.

"Lucy, if you are reading this then I'm already gone, but there are things you need to know. There is a connection between celestial spirits and dragons, and one spirit holds the key to that connection. Part of my life's work revolved around finding Pisces' key. Every lead I found became a dead end, but I never gave up hope. One of the final leads I received was promising, but I was not well enough to follow up with. Below you'll find a map, located in the wastelands close to Waas forest I heard rumour of someone who claimed to have knowledge of Pisces' key. I can't promise you this will be helpful, or even that you'll find this as intriguing or important as I do, but I know there are many others searching for all 12 keys, and the secrets they can unlock. Be safe and careful Lucy, and if this finds you, I hope it finds you well. Your loving mother, Layla."

I'll admit, by the last few words, I was in tears. My mother had written this. The ink curled and swayed in her hand, the paper had been touched by her, placed lovingly, and secretly into this cedar box especially for me. I hadn't even realized that Natsu's arm was around me. His hand stroking my back comfortingly. The letter was held tight, close to my heart. It took me some time for the words written there to process. Some kind of connection between my powers and the dragons. How could that be? Though, there was some connection already. The year my mom died, Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy all agreed their dragons vanished.

"You know what this means, right Lucy?" Natsu asked. I`d calmed down enough for him to release me. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand, looking over to him. I shook my head, more often than not I had no clue what Natsu was thinking. "we have a map, let's go find that clue. Your mom would have wanted us to get you that key and find out the connection!" I could do nothing but nod, he'd already decided for us. He stood, making me fall backwards off the bed with a loud smack.

"Ouch, Natsu! What was that for?" I muttered, rubbing my butt. He smiled moving towards the window. God forbid he should use the front door like a normal person.

"Pack your stuff Lucy! Tonight we're heading to Waas Forest!" Natsu, there was no bringing him down, ever. That was part of why he meant so much to me. No matter where life found us, so long as we were together, I knew we could get through it. I knew we'd come out of it somehow. I hurried and pack lightly, bringing the letter and placing the gemstone necklace on as well. Hilda chased me halfway to the guild yelling about rent, but luckily, she's slow in heels. I'd pay her as soon as I got back.

* * *

"Lucy, are you sure you don't want the rest of us to come?" Gray asked. He, Erza and Wendy had gathered at the guild hall with myself and Natsu.

"Yea, we're not getting paid anyway, its just a suspicion. Anyway, while Natsu and I are away, we'll need you three to try and find some jobs…Hilda is really going to kill me if my rent is any later, and seeing as MOST of you use my house, you should all chip in this month." I smiled triumphantly, the three of them gave way. Happy was adamant he should come, but Natsu insisted he stay and protect Charla and Wendy.

And so Natsu and I headed out. I don't think that he realized quite how far it was to the Waas Forest. We'd need to go further then we'd gone before, because chances were that this lead we were following from mom wasn't going to end there. Thankfully there were some familiar stops along the way.

"Natsu." I said as we began the journey, electing to walk, at first, outside of Magnolia. He turned, his salmon hued hair blowing in the wind, his large pack seemingly weightless on his strong shoulders. Sometimes, I wondered how he could be so carefree, through all of the things we'd been through.

"Yea?" he replied, moving closer to me, reaching out to tuck a strand of my golden hair behind my ear.

"Thanks for coming with me, it really means a lot to me" I said, smiling. I moved to give him a hug, but he beat me to it, wrapping me tight in his arms and whirling me around, making my blush creep further along my cheeks, almost to my ears. "ack Natsu! Put me down!" I said flailing in his iron like grip.

"Wouldn't have you do this with anyone else, Lucy." Little did we know this would be the ultimate test of our friendship, our feelings for one another. We were starting of on an adventure that would change us more then we could possibly comprehend. I'm still not sure we were prepared for it.


	2. Enter the Water Dragon Slayer

((thank you all for the reviews! I work full time and I'm busy most of the rest of my free time, but I'll try my best to update when I can :) I'm going to add a bit of point of view change as I weave the story, I will label the narrative, either by name, or gender))

* * *

(Lucy)

The ground was muddy and I slid as I ran. My boots were covered in sopping mud, squelching with each and every step. I had to keep running, but it was so hard, and I was so tired, and the mud…something about it. I didn't get long to stop and think about how odd it was that sun was shining, had been shining for days, and yet there was soaking wet mud?

I slipped, and instead of feeling the impact of the moist ground, I kept falling, until I hit cold icy water. Fear struck me, where had the water come from? Wasn't I running on solid ground? Terror gripped me and I tried to swim upwards to the surface, only I couldn't find it. There was no surface, only more water all around, up, down, everywhere, icey blue water freezing me to my core, choking the life breath from my lungs.

As the world began to get dark, bright yellow eyes, slitted, found me. A swish of a long tail, wings expanding and a roar so loud it left my ears ringing. I never saw what it was, my breath was gone, my consciousness waning. Could it have been a sea serpent? But they didn't have wings. A dragon? Had there been a water dragon? The image haunted me as I slipped into oblivion.

* * *

"Lucy, I'm hungry!" Natsu shouted at me. Snapping me out of the morbid dream of deadly drowning that had haunted me. I groaned, opening my eyes to see him plopped in front of my face, peering down at me. I grumbled and shifted to get out of my sleeping bag.

"One of these days you need to make your own damned breakfast, you know?" I moved to our backpacks and growled, turning to my pink haired companion. "Did you seriously eat our rations?" my voice was high, filled with rage. "Natsu that was supposed to last us all week, or at least until we rendez-voued with Hibki!"

Natsu sat there, frowning. He looked horribly cute, but right now, I was too angry to care much. I took the backpacks and tossed them at him, one of them smacking him flat on the face, causing him to fall over backwards. "Fuck Lucy! That hurt!" I ignored him and headed towards the woods. "Hey, hey Lucy, where are you going!" he moved to stand, wiping the dirt from his clothing.

"I'm going to find myself some food, sicne you ate it all, you jerk!" I'd never been quite this angry at him before, and the rage threw him off guard. When I'd cooled down, I'd apologize, but the dream had thrown me off, and Natsu's immaturity had lit my shortened fuse. I didn't stop my running until I was deep within the forests depths. I took a minute to rest against a nearby birch tree, taking a few breaths of air to settle and centre myself. Once I'd calmed down, I began to look for fruits, game, anything I could find to replenish out rations, knowing Natsu was likely going to do the same.

* * *

(Kaida)

My eyes focused on the blonde who'd made the mistake of running into MY forest. Who did bimbolina think she was? Didn't she know whose property this was? My gloved hand moved to pull the hood over my own hair, hiding it from view.

I followed her from the trees, my cerulean eyes following her every move. She didn't seem interested in any of the rare flora or fauna we had in the forest. To be honest I had no clue what she was doing. She seemed to be picking and eating poisonous berries. Pity begin to take hold of me. If she ate many more not only would she be very very sick, but she could die. With a heavy sigh, I jumped down and landed silently close by.

She seemed to notice she was no longer alone. The blond shifted her weight and rested her hand on her hip. She held something tight there. I couldn't see what it was from my new vantage point, but my assumption was always that it was a weapon. Fine, we'd play it her way. I placed my hands above my head and walked out of my hidey hole. "You caught me." I said, smirking under the cowl of my cape. She seemed shocked at the sight of me. I'm not much to look at, especially under my cape and cowl. Just over 5 feet tall, decently petite. She and I looked almost the same size. If it came to a fist fight, I'd win, but the mark on her right hand made me pause. That was a guilds mark, she was a wizard, and until I knew her magic style, best not to reveal I was one too.

"Who are you, what do you want? Why is your face covered?" she asked a lot of questions, and her hand never left her hip. I came in a bit closer, chancing a glance, but her hand was in the way. I had no way of knowing what she was hiding there. Maybe she could requip and was ready to grab a giant sword of death doom and destruction? Or maybe she was nervous.

"Lets play a game, hmm? I share, you share." I pulled my hood down, exposing my blue eyes and strawberry blond hair. "Lets do the easy stuff." I pointed to myself. "Kaida" then I pointed to her. She slowly lowered her hand, exposing celestial spirit keys. Interesting. I added for effect "I come in peace, but you should know those are poisonous, and I can find the antidote" I said, gesturing to the berries. She threw them down and tried to make herself vomit. I laughed, moving to her and shifting to hold her hair back. "That wont help, now, give me your name and why you're in the forest and I'll help you." I left out that I'd decide after her answer if I should help her or not.

"L-Lucy, I'm a fairy tail mage. I'm just passing by on my way towards the wastes past Waas forest." She'd said between coughs. Fairy tail…ahh right, my contacts ion Blue Pegasus spoke of that guild often and fondly. Something recently about disappearances and returns after 7 years. I never really fully listened. I smile, letting her hair go and moving towards one of the low branches. I hopped up and climbed towards the top, moving to grab the leaves of the large tan coloured tree. The leaves were a milky honey colour. I pulled out my mortar and pestel and began to grind the leaves.

"Sit next to me, and open your mouth, and be warned, this stuff tastes awful, and it will burn, but it should render the poison inert." I found it odd she was so trusting. But she was a mage, and I was too, only fair that since she wasn't out to ruin my patch of land, I shouldn't kill her, or let her die. I poured the goopy substance down her thorat. She coughed, but kept it down. I smiled, moving to scrape the leaf pulp from my mortar. "See it tastes awful, but it works. So what could you be looking for out there. It's a crap hole, I should know, I grew up out there." She looked voer to me in shock.

"You did! Have you heard anything about the Key of Pisces?" when I shook my head to her, looking confused as all hell, she sighed, frowning and told me everything. Once she'd finished, I couldn't help but grin. "What are you smiling about?" she asked. She blinked a moment and pointed to my pointed canines "You're a dragon slayer?" a statement and a question.

"Mmhmm, Kaida the water dragon slayer, at your service."

* * *

(Lucy)

She told me she was a dragonslayer…a water dragon slayer. As I bombarded her with questions, she looked confused, so I slowed my questions to a crawl and eventually just stopped all together. "So, you can't remember anything about the dragon who looked after you?" it was sad, Natsu spoke so fondly of Igneel, and Wendy of Grandine. It hurt my heart to think this girl couldn't remember her dragon at all.

"Nope, not really. I remember he was nice, but it's all a blur, he vanished along with all the other dragons, from what I've been told. I was found wandering the forest by Blue Pegasus wizards." She grinned to me, and it was one of those genuine smiles, like Natsu's "I was actually on my way to their guild hall to stock up on some supplies, it'll be winter soon, and I don't much like the cold." She stood, wiping the dirt from her cape. It was then I noticed the mark, mostly hidden on her stomach, but just as I saw the discoloured flesh, it was hidden under the folds of her clothing. "It's settled, I'll head there with you."

"Sounds great! We just need to collect Natsu and we'll be ready to go." She arched a brow at the name. "My partner, he's a dragon slayer too, like you." I lead her towards Natsu, but she insisted on stopping to grab a few things. There was a small cabin that must have been her home. She didn't have much, but she packed a bag with a note book and some pencils, like the ones Reedus used when he drew, and followed me to our campsite. Natsu was still gone, so I began to tell her some stories about fairy tail, until he returned.

"Lucy! I found some berries, but they smelt bad so I caught some…who the hell are you?" he asked as he saw Kaida. His nose twitched, and hers returned the favour. "A new friend, Lucy?" he asked. I nodded and smiled to him. He'd caught more fish then we could eat on our own, anyway. I'd smoke and dry them so the three of us could eat the fish for a few days.

"Kaida, she's the water dragon slayer. Cool right?" I said, moving to collect the fish from him. "She's a friend of Blue Pegasus."

"Nice to meet you." Kaida said, eyeing Natsu curiously. It was then I registered she must never have met another dragon slayer before. That made me smile, it was like Natsu meeting Gajeel all over again. I just hoped they wouldn't try to battle to see who was the stronger dragon slayer.

As we ate, I wondered, could my dream be connected to Kaida. Was she the key to Pisces? What about her memories of her dragon being gone? There was something bigger here. I hoped that when we reached Blue Pegasus, they could shine some light onto who Kaida was, and how she got from the wastelands past Waas all the way to their guild hall. And why wasn't she there now? As much as I wanted our meeting Kaida to be some kind of sign we were on the right track, she seemed to raise more questions than answers, which was beginning to make my spirit heavy with doubt. What if this little quest of mine was stupid, pointless. Would Natsu forgive me for dragging him with me on this wild goose chase?

* * *

(Male POV)

Seeing her again made my heart skip. She still blamed me, she still hated me, and if she knew the truth she'd run again. She'd made so much progress since I'd left. She'd accepted everything, but she still blamed me. I prayed she never knew I was there, watching her all along through Lucy. A lot of her pain was my doing, even indirectly. I prayed they didn't need my help the rest of the way to the guild hall, because if she saw me again, I knew she'd do her damndest to kill me, and I knew I deserved nothing less from her.

After all, it was my fault the woman who was like her mother died.


End file.
